Finland has one of the best education systems in the world and repeatedly ranks amongst the top 3. Why? Basically Finland’s education system is diametrically opposite to how education in North America. Kids are allowed to play, homework is scarce, and teachers are treated with respect.
Mind Space
Smart People Trust Others
Oxford University researchers have concluded that the more intelligent a person is the more likely they are to trust other people. This is assumed to be the case because smarter people have a better at determining what sort of people they want to be around and self-select to be around people who can indeed be trusted. The study also points out the benefits of trust for society at large (including not intelligent people).
The Oxford researchers found, however, that the links between trust and health, and between trust and happiness, are not explained by intelligence. For example, individuals who trust others might have only reported better health and greater happiness because they were more intelligent. But this turns out not to be the case. The finding confirms that trust is a valuable resource for an individual, and is not simply a proxy for intelligence.
New Research: Brains Do Heal Themselves
After a traumatic brain injury, it sometimes happens that the brain can repair itself, building new brain cells to replace damaged ones. But the repair doesn’t happen quickly enough to allow recovery from degenerative conditions like motor neuron disease (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS). Siddharthan Chandran walks through some new techniques using special stem cells that could allow the damaged brain to rebuild faster.
Inject More Serendipity Into Your Online Adventures
Not Recommended For You is a new website that is a reaction to all the other websites that recommend content based on what you do. Google tailors your search results so they are different than your friend’s and other websites track what you do on their sites to drive you to click more. Not Recommended For You is the opposite of that, it’s like walking through the library and discovering random books.
We’re big fans of the Internet, but not always the biggest fans of its recommendations. Our browsing history – what we’ve clicked, liked, watched or listened to – is turned into “Recommended For You’s” by smart algorithms. “Not Recommended For You†is a collection of video recommendations by people across the globe answering the question “What would you recommend, if you could recommend anything at all, to someone you don’t know?â€.
The answers aren’t “algorithm smart” or even recommended specifically for you. But, they feel personal and turned out more unpredictable than we could imagine, ranging from practical recommendations like “try to live like a siamese twin for a week†or “choose small bad looking apples for the perfect apple pie†to motivational recommendations like “look up (…) if you can see the sky there’s always something to strive forâ€. Now, we’re turning it into a collaborative project by inviting people online to share their recommendations on our site.
Obviously, The Climate Change Debate is Over
Anybody with the ability to reason realizes that anthropogenic climate change is happening – and it’s happening in an unpredictable but faster way than previously imagined. The fact that fools argue against this infuriates me as they are essentially arguing against reality.
Recently, two acclaimed scientific bodies (The Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences) concluded that human caused climate change is occurring. This adds to a chorus of institutions that have reached the same conclusion years ago.
So what is possibly good about anthropogenic climate change? I have no idea if there is anything positive about it or not. What I do know, is that finally people are calling out the bullshit that the deniers are spouting – and that is a good thing!
The less we listen to people who deny the evidence and knowledge of multiple experts in multiple fields the better.
Indeed, this post was inspired by a comment made on Reddit. Here’s just a snippet of the excellent message meant for climate change deniers:
It’s extremely predictable. Ten years ago, you were telling us that the climate wasn’t changing. Five years ago, you were telling us that climate change wasn’t anthropogenic in origin. Now, you’re telling us that anthropogenic climate change might be real, but it’s certainly not a bad thing. I’m pretty sure that five years from now you’ll be admitting it’s a bad thing, but saying that you have no obligation to mitigate the effects.
You know why you’re changing your story so often? It’s because you guys are armchair quarterbacks scientists. You took some science classes in high school twenty years ago and you’re pretty sure it must be mostly the same now. I mean, chemical reactions follow static laws and stuff, or something, right? Okay, you’re rusty, but you read a few dozen blog posts each year. Maybe a book or two if you’re feeling motivated. Certainly, you listen to the radio and that’s plenty good enough.
I’m sorry, but it’s needs to be said: you’re full of it.
And this is from the article that caused the comment thread:
The publication explains that measurements that distinguish between the different forms of carbon in the atmosphere provide clear evidence that the increased amount of CO2 comes primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels, and discusses why the warming that has occurred along with the increase in CO2 cannot be explained by natural causes such as variations in the Sun’s output.
Many effects of climate change have already become apparent in the observational record, but the possible extent of future impacts needs to be better understood.
For example, while average global sea levels have risen about 20 cm since 1901, and are expected to continue to rise, more research is needed to more accurately predict the size of future sea-level rise.